Thursday, April 26, 2012

Well, I am at a point where I am just curious about the status of today's society.

I have been getting a deluge of one sentance inquiries without names again, and I really wonder if this is as common place as it is seeming to be.

Honestly, it does rub me a bit wrong, but I also admit that I am somewhat of a Grammar Nazi. Common courtesies within writings are something that I try my best to keep alive, including title, structure and a signature.

And of course, because I am fighting a losing battle, I feel like I am just getting old and crotchety.

I would like to point out that in the world of annoyances, it really isn't that big of a deal. But when I cannot answer the questions that people are asking because of the lack of information from the original party, I have a really difficult time with it.

How am I supposed to answer something like this?

"how much duz it weig?"

It? What "it" are we talking about?

And does is not that hard to spell... and spellcheck is a wonderful tool!

THIS is what I get that I can't figure out how people can send... And of course, if I don't answer it to the expectation of the sender within a reasonable amount of time, I am the bad guy.

Because of something like this, I have horrible customer service and do not answer any e-mails ever!

.... Yeah

How am I supposed to answer that without sounding snarky? I try, and I ask for as much clarification as I can in a professional manner. That is what I do at my Full-Time job as well.. Customer service is something I feel comes second-hand to me, but not when the customer isn't helpful in allowing me to be helpful.

I know how to ask the right questions, but when I don't get responses, I can't be expected to still know what this person is asking.

Am I wrong in this? Am I the only one who feels this way? What do I SAY???

I get more and more frustrated the more often I get these.

I guess I really am just old and crotchety.

"Get with the times, Wong..."

Pretty soon it will be no vowels and text message terminology within e-mails (oh wait! It already happens!) as being common-place and standard, and acceptable.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

This female has been with me for a few years now, and I am so glad to see this clutch. This female I got as a Pastel possible het Pied back in the day, and she is finally ready to prove herself this season.

So what, pray tell, did I breed her to?

Well, the Mojave Pied, of course.

Fingers crossed that she proves, but of course, even if she doesn't, I get some sweet Pastave het Pieds out of it...

Five eggs, not too shabby for a first time breeder. I hope that she manages better in the next few seasons, but she will get some time off to grow anyway, so it's all good.

So here's to more eggs very soon! I don't expect any in the next few days, but things are rocking and rolling, so maybe early next week?

Friday, April 20, 2012

It's getting closer and closer to the wedding, and things are getting more and more hectic.

I am getting married at the end of May, and as you know.. It's coming up SOON!

So... I have had do more away from snake stuff, which tends to also take me away from the computer.

Oh well.

But over the last few nights, I have been able to catch a few cool things, including this very uncomfortable Pastel female. She is ready to BLOW, and although she doesn't quite have Egg Butt Puff, it is coming SOON.

This is a good sign!

I hope that she doesn't do anything this weekend, as it is my Bachelorette party and I will be partying hardy!

So with that, I'm going to clean and prep the room so that I can be comfortable not going in there after the party.. I have a feeling I may be a little tired...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I admit it. I have tried and tried and tried, and have not been very successful other than cataloging it on the blog and on the website the basic data for my animals.

Feedings, sheds, weights...

I write them down, I put them in programs, and then I stop. And remember again... And stop again.

I always have data for the last month for most animals, but beyond that (other than hatching dates), I just don't keep good records.

Why?

Because I have a reasonable amount of animals to take care of, and most of the time, I have milestone information that helps decide whether or not this animal will breed, move up in a bigger tub, etc... But nothing weekly.

I haven't had the time for it.

So when my friend Anonymous asks me what the pre-lay weight of the Spider was... I have no idea.

The answer is.. Big.

My guesstimate would be around 2000+ grams.

The official answer would be "I have no idea."

Now of course, now that I have been asked, I did weigh her today for her post egg laying weight.

1272 grams.

And no, I don't weigh eggs... I'm not sure what the point of that is, really. It's cool data to collect, but I worry about moving the eggs around too much and stuff like that.

Paranoid much?

With eggs, yeah.

So there you go.

Not enough information. Even I am dissatisfied with my own answer, but I can't justify spending 3+ hours weighing and recording snakes every week.

This is just me talking here, and of course should you have the time to do it, I say GO FOR IT and that I'm also kinda jealous that you have time for that kind of thing.

I would love to say that I could provide all the information including sheds and feeds and poops and water changes and hissings and etc... But no. I can't.

I go in, I do it, I clean up, and I move on to the next thing.

I need to get better at it, and again, I have all intentions of doing so, but if wishes were fishes or something like that... I dunno.

In June we can reconvene and see what I can do to hash things out.

But the power of the blog, and part of the reason why I do it is to keep my own public records of things over the years. I do have records of the largest clutch I have was twelve eggs from a normal back before I was doing the blog. It was an awesome clutch of largeness, but not so much in terms of odds. It was something along the lines of three Pastels... Yeah, not too hot.

But there you go.

I hope to be able to beat the twelve egg record at some point soon. That would be pretty sweet...

How bout you guys?
Largest clutches?
Ways you keep records?
What records you keep and what is important to you?

BTW: I do keep baby hatchling records up to a point.. Just for arguments sake, as I know some people like that kind of information. But if I have it for 6-8 months before it is sold, I guarantee there will be gaps of information.

Monday, April 16, 2012

I have been doing this blog for so long, I know I have touched on every possible thing I could think of without repeating myself, and even a few that I have.

So with that in mind, I may start again from the beginning!

This is my 1000th blog post, folks, with many more to come.

I am FLOORED by how much it has grown and changed, and how many people actually come back and read after all this time.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for sticking with me during all these rants, raves, highs and lows..

Yes, I am not the only Ball Python breeder out there. I don't know everything, and I never will. But my intent with this blog was to put it all out there with my experiences for those learning, those who wanna know things, and those that just wanna enjoy some awesome Ball Pythons.

I hope it has been helpful to you, and that you utilize it well and ask questions when you can't find exactly what you are looking for. It helps me help you, and that is what this blog is about.

On to the questions:

"1st: Where do you get your acrylic displays for shows? I seem to
remember one breaking on you. Is there a model that doesn't break as
easily? What model would you recommend?"

I get my acrylics from Reptile Emporium, and I absolutely love their quality. They can and will break, as they are acrylic, but if you take good care of not knocking them around or dropping them from high places, they can and will last you forever.

For the record, yes, one of mine broke due to being mishandled. Acrylic is a sensitive material, so just be aware.

"2nd: If you have a male
that is breeding more than one girl, how often do you rotate him? Do you
ever give him a break? How often does the girl really need to be with a
boy to progress towards ovulation?"

Ahhh yes. This is a question that does not have a definitive answer that I can provide. (I'm sure there is an exact answer, but I am not sure of it)

I rotate my male thru several females giving him three days on, two days off (aka break time), and another female three days, and so on. How often does the girl really need to be with the male? Depends on where she is in her cycle.... So if you don't have a good way of telling (aka no ultrasound machine or amazing palpating skills), I would say go with twice to three times a month. This is more than likely overkill, but if you don't have a surefire way of assuring that the male is in with the female at the right time, more time is better than less time.

A female will progress towards ovulation as long as she has been exposed to a breeding male, and has been at least receptive to the point of developing. I say this because I have gotten complete clutches of slugs, which is a possibility even after ovulation. BUT!!! A female will not ovulate unless the process has begun.. AKA she has had time with a mature male.

I hope this helps, keep asking questions, keep being awesome, and have a great day, my friends!

Friday, April 13, 2012

No eggs today, and it's FrIDaY!!! I always love my weekends, as long as they aren't jam packed with stuff.

So I took some photos for the available page, as well as some available stuff for ads, and I just wanted to share them. I like these!

That Mojave Pied male is a jerk. He's drawn blood at least twice so far, and eats like a champ.
It doesn't hurt that he is gorgeous either...

Jerk.

And this is one of the Stingerbee males I have up. They are so attractive, but so hard to capture in photos.

Deep golds and yellows, melty spider pattern... Getting golder and golder as they age. I really am sad that I don't need the males.. and that I didn't hatch out a female.

Painful to see such an awesome morph grow and know I'm not keeping it...

Speaking of keeping, this here is my Calico female. She has been a ton of fun to watch grow... I really like how her whites are coming in. I expect that watching her over the years will be very entertaining. Many more photos to come of this little girl.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

It was raining today, and I caught this pair locked up in the hide. So far, this is my FAVORITE lock up photo ever.

EVER.

Not because of who they are or what they are doing, but it just is such a perfect setup, and I did NOTHING but get the camera out and click.

They are totally just showing off...

This is the Pewterbee (Pastel Cinnamon Spider) male and a Mojave female. Should be an awesome pairing, and obviously they like each other enough, so fingers crossed for some cool babies out of this one.

So let's get to the questions, shall we?

"I also have an egg in the incubator that is growing molds. Does it mean
it's bad or too much humidity in the tub? Do I need to do anything? It
had veins when it was layed."

A Moldy egg means that it is going bad 95% of the time. What I do in this case is that I leave it in there until I can tell that it is completely bad. This is when it starts to smell, turns green or yellow or brown all the way around.

It has nothing to do with humidity, as a good egg in high humidity will just swell up a lot (which is a sign to dry out your substrate a bit).

There are instances where eggs will mold in just a small spot. This can be due to left over stuck substrate, a bad section of egg shell, or something else minor. In this case, just wipe off the mold and let it stay there. If the mold grows back, but doesn't spread, you are fine.

When in doubt, leave the egg in there. It will not effect the other healthy eggs in the incubator unless you have a bigger incubator tub problem (too hot, variable temps, etc).

"do yu ever have a problem with the sani chips plugging up the male hemipenes? ive heard they can easily get infected"

YES. I check my males frequently after pairings to make sure they don't have sani-chips in their cloacal regions or hemipenes. I pop them after every pairing, and every time I move them around.This ensures that I catch and remove any stray sani-chips in that area, and prevent anything else from happening. I have never had any infections at this point, but I have seen and caught several little wooden bits in the male private parts...

I hope this helps, bring on the questions, and have a great day, my friends!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

So of course, now that I am back, things are rocking and rolling like crazy. This little female has been a problem child for me over the past few years, and I finally managed to get her to hold on to some eggs!

Put in a Pastel Het TSK Axanthic male with her, and they were golden! So here's to five Pastel Axanthics popping out of the shells in two months.

The egg on the side rolled a bit, so I am hoping it still is viable. It looked good, but you never know.

There are two eggs of the Albino clutch that are going bad...
Sadness already. But YAY for new eggs and new chances!

And I finally got a chance to catch a few more lockups today, with the weather turning into rain tomorrow.

Here we have the Firefly male with a Pewter female. Fingers crossed for a large clutch on this one. Sterling Fires? Awwww yeah.

And of course the two males that are in ugly stuck shed style too busy to keep up with themselves...

Above we have the Spinnerblast male and a Mojave female, and below, the Super Pastel Lesser with a Spider female.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

So of course, I went in to the room with my camera, and all the lock ups that I have been seeing over the past week are no longer locking up.

I did manage to catch this one above, however, which is between a Pastel het Clown male and a Possible Het Clown female. I am really really invested in seeing some Clowns this year, as I have been in the project for five years with no Clowns of my own hatching to show for it.

Fingers crossed that this female (who I produced, along with her Pastel possible het sisters) prove out. I need some Clowns, please.

This female is the mother to my Bumblebee Fires and Fire Spiders from
the last season. She does tend to go earlier than most of the others, so
I am anticipating her laying within the month. She was bred to the
Firefly again, since they turned out so spectacular last year.

And this is one of the Bumblebee Fires that I held back.

No flash, and she is bright as all get out.

I got a bunch of other photos to share over the next few days, along with what I hope will be an update to the incubator as well as a few more new addition photos.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Well, with everything going on, I really had to stop spreading myself so thin with stuff that wasn't particularly productive to my every day routine.

This is not to say that writing the blog isn't fun and therapeutic, but I didn't have enough time to fit it in with everything else that seemed to take more precedence.

Notice that most snake breeders do not do a daily blog, and if they do, it's not always about snakes.

This is because although snakes are awesome, there is sometimes little to be said for an animal that hasn't done much that day.

This is still true as of this morning, because even in the week that I have been away, there has really been very little to report.

I have seen many ovulations, I have a few females that I gauge to be dropping within the next few weeks, and breedings are still happening. The problem is is that on top of needing the break, I also have been having problems with my camera.

So of course, I need to go fix that as well..

Sheesh.

When it rains, it pours.

But I have a backup, and I will be sharing updated photos of critters tomorrow.

Requests, as always, are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you also for those of you who e-mailed me and asked me if I was still alive.

Yes, I am still alive!

I appreciate your concern and your dedication to reading the blog. It makes it all worthwhile.